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Upwelling processes bring nutrient-rich waters from the deep ocean to the surface. Areas of upwelling are often associated with high productivity, offering great economic value in terms of fisheries. The sensitivity of spring/summer-time coastal upwelling systems to climate change has recently received a lot of attention. Several studies have suggested that their intensity may increase in the future while other authors have shown decreasing intensity in their equatorward portions. Yet, recent observations do not show robust evidence of this intensification. The Senegalo-Mauritanian upwelling system (SMUS) located at the southern edge of the north Atlantic system (12°N–20°N) and most active in winter/spring has been largely excluded from these studies. Here, the seasonal cycle of the SMUS and its response to climate change is investigated in the database of the Coupled Models Inter comparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). Upwelling magnitude and surface signature are characterized by several sea surface temperature and wind stress indices. We highlight the ability of the climate models to reproduce the system, as well as their biases. The simulations suggest that the intensity of the SMUS winter/spring upwelling will moderately decrease in the future, primarily because of a reduction of the wind forcing linked to a northward shift of Azores anticyclone and a more regional modulation of the low pressures found over Northwest Africa. The implications of such an upwelling reduction on the ecosystems and local communities exploiting them remains very uncertain.

Biomass pre-treatment is a key step in achieving the economic competitiveness of biomass conversion. In the present work, an imidazole pre-treatment process was performed and evaluated using wheat straw and eucalyptus residues as model feedstocks for agriculture and forest-origin biomasses, respectively. Results showed that imidazole is an efficient pre-treatment agent; however, better results were obtained for wheat straw due to the recalcitrant behavior of eucalyptus residues. The temperature had a stronger effect than time on wheat straw pre-treatment but at 160 °C and 4 h, similar results were obtained for cellulose and hemicellulose content from both biomasses (ca. 54% and 24%, respectively). Lignin content in the pre-treated solid was higher for eucalyptus residues (16% vs. 4%), as expected. Enzymatic hydrolysis, applied to both biomasses after different pre-treatments, revealed that results improved with increasing temperature/time for wheat straw. However, these conditions had no influence on the results for eucalyptus residues, with very low glucan to glucose enzymatic hydrolysis yield (93% for wheat straw vs. 40% for eucalyptus residues). Imidazole can therefore be considered as a suitable solvent for herbaceous biomass pre-treatment.

A medida que las ciudades de África Oriental sigan creciendo, también lo hará la demanda de carbón vegetal, el combustible urbano preferido de la región, lo que ejercerá una presión cada vez mayor sobre los paisajes rurales donde se produce. ¿Cómo se puede hacer sostenible la producción y el suministro de carbón vegetal? ¿Cuáles son las implicaciones de las políticas y prácticas sostenibles de carbón vegetal para lograr una vía baja en carbono y proteger el medio ambiente? Este documento presenta una investigación de estudio de caso centrada en el condado de Kitui, una de las principales zonas de producción de carbón vegetal en Kenia. El riesgo y la incertidumbre de las políticas sostenibles de carbón vegetal en Kitui se evaluaron utilizando métodos complementarios de talleres con las partes interesadas, entrevistas con informantes y modelos basados en agentes. Este enfoque interdisciplinario combinó la investigación de políticas y el modelado de simulación, donde las perspectivas y los datos locales se incluyeron directamente en el modelado. Estos métodos facilitaron la crítica del comportamiento relacionado con la agencia y la corrupción. Las partes interesadas valoraron la capacidad de acceder a información detallada sobre microinteracciones y considerar el desempeño de las políticas con respecto tanto a los flujos financieros como a la extracción de biomasa. Alors que les villes d'Afrique de l'Est continuent de croître, la demande de charbon de bois – le carburant urbain préféré de la région – exercera une pression croissante sur les paysages ruraux où il est produit. Comment rendre la production et l'approvisionnement en charbon durables ? Quelles sont les implications des politiques et des pratiques de charbon de bois durable pour parvenir à une voie à faible émission de carbone et protéger l'environnement ? Cet article présente des études de cas axées sur le comté de Kitui, l'une des principales zones de production de charbon de bois au Kenya. Les risques et l'incertitude des politiques de charbon de bois durable à Kitui ont été évalués à l'aide de méthodes complémentaires d'ateliers avec les parties prenantes, d'entretiens avec les informateurs et de modélisation basée sur les agents. Cette approche interdisciplinaire combinait la recherche sur les politiques et la modélisation par simulation, où les perspectives et les données locales étaient directement incluses dans la modélisation. Ces méthodes ont facilité la critique des comportements concernant l'agence et la corruption. Les parties prenantes ont apprécié la possibilité d'accéder à des informations détaillées sur les micro-interactions et d'examiner les performances des politiques en matière de flux financiers et d'extraction de la biomasse. As cities in East Africa keep growing, so too will demand for charcoal – the region's preferred urban fuel – placing increasing pressure on rural landscapes where it is produced. How can charcoal production and supply be made sustainable? What are the implications of sustainable charcoal policies and practices for achieving a low-carbon pathway and protecting the environment? This paper presents case study research focusing on Kitui County, one of the main charcoal production areas in Kenya. Risk and uncertainty of sustainable charcoal policies in Kitui were assessed using complementary methods of stakeholder workshops, informant interviews and agent-based modelling. This interdisciplinary approach combined policy research and simulation modelling, where local perspectives and data were included directly in the modelling. These methods facilitated critique of behaviour concerning agency and corruption. Stakeholders valued the ability to access detailed information on micro-interactions and consider policy performance regarding both financial flows and biomass extraction. ومع استمرار نمو المدن في شرق أفريقيا، فإن الطلب على الفحم – الوقود الحضري المفضل في المنطقة – سيزيد من الضغط على المناظر الطبيعية الريفية حيث يتم إنتاجه. كيف يمكن جعل إنتاج الفحم وتوريده مستدامين ؟ ما هي الآثار المترتبة على سياسات وممارسات الفحم المستدامة لتحقيق مسار منخفض الكربون وحماية البيئة ؟ تقدم هذه الورقة بحث دراسة حالة يركز على مقاطعة كيتوي، واحدة من مناطق إنتاج الفحم الرئيسية في كينيا. تم تقييم المخاطر وعدم اليقين في سياسات الفحم المستدامة في كيتوي باستخدام طرق تكميلية لورش عمل أصحاب المصلحة ومقابلات المخبرين والنمذجة القائمة على الوكيل. جمع هذا النهج متعدد التخصصات بين أبحاث السياسات ونمذجة المحاكاة، حيث تم تضمين وجهات النظر والبيانات المحلية مباشرة في النمذجة. سهلت هذه الأساليب نقد السلوك المتعلق بالوكالة والفساد. وقدر أصحاب المصلحة القدرة على الوصول إلى معلومات مفصلة عن التفاعلات الصغيرة والنظر في أداء السياسات فيما يتعلق بكل من التدفقات المالية واستخراج الكتلة الحيوية.

Fire danger indices are descriptors of fire potential in a large area, and combine a few variables that affect the initiation, spread and control of forest fires. The Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI) is one of the most widely used fire danger indices in the world, and it is built upon instantaneous values of temperature, relative humidity and wind velocity at noon, together with 24 hourly accumulated precipitation. However, the scarcity of appropriate data has motivated the use of daily mean values as surrogates of the instantaneous ones in several studies that aimed to assess the impact of global warming on fire. In this paper we test the sensitivity of FWI values to both instantaneous and daily mean values, analyzing their effect on mean seasonal fire danger (seasonal severity rating, SSR) and extreme fire danger conditions (90th percentile, FWI90, and FWI>30, FOT30), with a special focus on its influence in climate change impact studies. To this aim, we analyzed reanalysis and regional climate model (RCM) simulations, and compared the resulting instantaneous and daily mean versions both in the present climate and in a future scenario. In particular, we were interested in determining the effect of these datasets on the projected changes obtained for the mean and extreme seasonal fire danger conditions in future climate scenarios, as given by a RCM. Overall, our results warn against the use of daily mean data for the computation of present and future fire danger conditions. Daily mean data lead to systematic negative biases of fire danger calculations. Although the mean seasonal fire danger indices might be corrected to compensate for this bias, fire danger extremes (FWI90 and specially FOT30) cannot be reliably transformed to accommodate the spatial pattern and magnitude of their respective instantaneous versions, leading to inconsistent results when projected into the future. As a result, we advocate caution when using daily mean data and strongly recommend the application of the standard definition for its calculation as closely as possible. Threshold-dependent indices derived from FWI are not reliably represented by the daily mean version and thus can neither be applied for the estimation of future fire danger season length and severity, nor for the estimation of future extreme events. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement 243888 (FUME Project). J.F. acknowledges nancial support from the Spanish R&D&I programme through grant CGL2010-22158-C02 (CORWES project). The ESCENA project (200800050084265) of the Spanish \Strategic action on energy and climate change" provided the WRF RCM simulation used in this study. We acknowledge three anonymous referees for their useful comments that helped to improve the original manuscript.

According to the European Commission, green infrastructure (GI) is conceived as a strategically planned network of natural and semi-natural areas. This definition highlights three important issues: environment protection, ecosystems multifunctionality and ecological connectivity. Building upon a methodology that identifies a Sardinian regional GI in relation to four values (conservation value, natural value, recreational value and landscape value), this study aims at assessing the suitability of areas situated within and outside protected areas’ boundaries to be included in the above-mentioned Sardinian regional GI. In relation to conservation value, outcomes reveal a higher suitability of patches situated within protected areas to be included in the regional GI, whereas in relation to the other three values, the behavioral patterns are less evident. These results suggest specific policy recommendations such as mitigation of land-taking processes, increase of Natura 2000 Network’s size, accurate identification of landscape goods, and improved accessibility to sites characterized by outstanding natural beauty.

Nature-based solutions have not been able to actively involve citizens and to address successfully food security, poverty alleviation, and inequality in urban areas. The Edible City approach promises a strategic step towards the development of sustainable, livable, and healthy cities. We introduce the conceptional framework of Edible City Solutions (ECS), including different forms of urban farming combined with closed loop systems for sustainable water, nutrient, and waste management. We review scientific evidence on ECS benefits for urban regeneration and describe the status quo of ECS in Rotterdam, Andernach, Oslo, Heidelberg, and Havana as case studies. We provide an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) to explore the capacity of ECS to enhance multifunctionality of urban landscapes with special focus on social cohesion and quality of life. Based on this we identify and discuss strategies for fostering socially relevant implementations for the case study cities and beyond.